Marlins drop 6th straight, lose to Arizona 5-0

Miami Marlins starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano wipes his face in the sixth inning during a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Miami, Friday, April 27, 2012. The Diamondbacks defeated the Marlins 5-0. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

/ AP

Miami Marlins starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano wipes his face in the sixth inning during a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Miami, Friday, April 27, 2012. The Diamondbacks defeated the Marlins 5-0. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Miami Marlins starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano wipes his face in the sixth inning during a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Miami, Friday, April 27, 2012. The Diamondbacks defeated the Marlins 5-0. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) (/ AP)

TIM REYNOLDS, AP Sports Writer

Jose Reyes got the night off, and still had as many hits as nearly everyone else in the Miami lineup.

"To be honest with you, everybody's struggling," Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen said after a quick postgame clubhouse meeting. "I'm not going to point fingers toward anyone. I just told the guys, I lose games, you guys win. ... If we had a bad ballclub, I'd say it was going to be tough. But I know in my heart, in my brains, in my soul, we've got a great ballclub."

The Marlins have scored six runs and managed only 28 hits during their losing streak. Reyes, the Marlins' shortstop, was given the night off after batting .205 in Miami's first 18 games.

Kubel extended his hitting streak to 10 games, his average over that stretch going from .200 to .333. Miguel Montero drove in three runs and Aaron Hill homered for Arizona.

Saunders (2-1) struck out four and walked two, getting the third shutout of his career and dropping his ERA from 1.29 to 0.90.

"A combination of a good pitcher on the mound and a really bad hitting team right now," Guillen said.

Saunders got into trouble only once, that coming not because of the Marlins getting hits off him - but actually hitting him.

A comebacker by Hanley Ramirez bounced off Saunders in the fourth inning. He managed to scurry for the ball and threw over to first to beat Ramirez, then limped into the Arizona dugout while grimacing in obvious pain.

But in the fifth, Saunders came back out to the mound, showing no ill effects. And his offense was giving him all the support he needed.

"You always want to get off to a good start especially on an 11-day, 10-game road trip like we're on now," Saunders said. "You always want to go out there and get the road trip off on a good start and hopefully save the bullpen."

In April 2011, Saunders went 0-3 with a 5.93 ERA, as teams hit .333 against him in 27 1-3 innings. So far this season, opponents are batting .186 off Saunders.

"He's been great, very consistent," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "He's taken the ball every fifth day and is really dominant with his stuff."

The Diamondbacks had only five instances of someone having a three-hit effort in their first 19 games. They had both Kubel and Hill get there in the first six innings on Friday, as Zambrano flirted with big trouble for much of his night.

He allowed the last three batters he faced in the first inning to reach, getting out of it only when Kubel was caught in a rundown between second and third for the third out after Montero's single drove Justin Upton home. Hill led off the second inning with a single, followed by walks to Lyle Overbay and Ryan Roberts.

Saunders followed with a sacrifice fly to right, making it 2-0 - the sixth RBI of the pitcher's career.

Zambrano gave up three more singles in the third, all of them comebackers, only to escape unscathed. Montero grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, and Roberts flied out three batters later to end the threat. That appeared to settle Zambrano down, until Hill sent a 1-2 pitch over the left-field wall to start the sixth.

"There's nothing you can do about it. Just come tomorrow and play," Zambrano said. "The good thing about this is tomorrow's another day. It's not like this team isn't capable of doing a lot of things. Just a bad start."

NOTES: It was Kubel's sixth four-hit game. He last did it on consecutive days for Minnesota on April 17-18, 2009, and was intentionally walked in the ninth. ... Arizona RHP Ian Kennedy (3-0, 3.86 ERA) will look for his 10th straight win Saturday against Miami RHP Anibal Sanchez (1-0, 2.79 ERA). Sanchez no-hit Arizona in 2006. ... Zambrano needed 46 pitches to get through two innings - as many as Miami closer Heath Bell threw in the ninth inning of the Marlins' loss at the New York Mets on Thursday. Bell wasn't going to be available Friday, Guillen said.